Defining Gene Signatures for Protective Immunity to Tuberculosis in the Chinese Cynomolgus Macaque Model
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ABSTRACT: Gene expression profiles in PPD-stimulated and unstimulated peripherhal blood mononuclear cells isolated from chinese cynomolgus macaques before and after BCG vaccination and before and after M. tuberculosis challenge were compared in animals able to control TB infection and those that developed TB disease in order to identify potential correlates of protection and/or biomarkers of disease.
Project description:Gene expression profiles in PPD-stimulated and unstimulated peripherhal blood mononuclear cells isolated from chinese cynomolgus macaques before and after BCG vaccination and before and after M. tuberculosis challenge were compared in animals able to control TB infection and those that developed TB disease in order to identify potential correlates of protection and/or biomarkers of disease. 6 macaques received BCG vaccination prior to challenge and were able to control TB infection (vaccinated controllers). 3 unvaccinated macaques were also able to control TB infection after challenge (unvaccinated controllers) and 3 other unvaccinated macaques developed TB disease and reached humane endpoint criteria (unvaccinated progressors). PBMCs isolated at 8 and 18 weeks post BCG-vaccination from the vaccinated controllers and at 6 weeks post M.tb challenge and at 2 time-points when the animals were naive in all animals were stimulated with PPD. RNA was extracted from the cells and hybridised to and Agilent rhesus macaque GE microarray in a one-colour hybridisation. Gene expression post-vaccination and/or post-challenge was compared with expression before vaccination/challenge when the animals were naive.
Project description:Gene expression profiles in PPD-stimulated and unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from rhesus macaques before and after M. tuberculosis challenge were compared in animals able to control TB infection and those that developed TB disease in order to identify potential correlates of protection and/or biomarkers of disease.
Project description:Self-renewal and differentiation are inherent properties of hematopoietic stem cells that are necessary to support hematopoiesis. However, the underlying mechanisms, especially in human, remain unclear. Here, using the cynomolgus macaque as a surrogate model, we develop a new gating strategy to isolate with high purity transplantable cynomolgus HSCs and generated a single-cell transcriptomic map of cynomolgus HSCs and progenitor cells, that covers the gestational period not analyzed in human. We show that hematopoietic cells from the late-1st to early-3rd trimester fetal liver and late-2nd trimester and thereafter bone marrow has repopulating potential, closely mimicking humans. Unexpectedly however, we found unlike in human, cynomolgus HSCs express CD38 but not CD33, indicating that these cellular counterparts are molecularly distinct. Our transcriptomic analysis reveals the presence of a direct differentiation pathway from HSCs to megakaryocyte lineages, lineage-primed multipotent progenitors and also identified putative HSC surface markers. Taken together, our comprehensive dataset highlights not only the utility of cynomolgus monkeys as model systems to study hematopoiesis but also their potential for translational applications.
Project description:The objective of this study is to characterize the response to newly emerged, highly pathogenic H7N9 influenza virus isolated from human patients in 2013 in China. This study examines the pathogenesis of H7N9 influenza in cynomolgus macaques. The study compares lung lesions to adjacent right lower lobe lung tissue in animals necropsied at days 3 and 6 post-infection (n=4 animals/timepoint). 3-4 lesions from each animal were collected and equal amounts of pooled RNA from lesions from individual animals at each time point were used for microarray. 8 cynomolgus macaques were infected via oral, intraocular, intranasal, and intratracheal administration of a combined total of 7x10^6 TCID50. Lungs, lung lesions, and trachea samples were collected from serial sacrifices of 4 animals each at day 3 and day 6. Infection produced a moderate-severe, self-limiting respiratory infection, and was not lethal. We performed microarray analysis (using Agilent Rhesus arrays) on all lungs, lung lesions, and trachea collected for the study.
Project description:The diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis (TB) poses a challenge for clinical teams worldwide. TB-mediated changes in the expression of host genes in the peripheral blood can serve as diagnostic biomarkers and can provide better insights into the host immune mechanisms of childhood TB. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from children (n=102) with microbiologically confirmed TB disease, ΤΒ infection (ΤΒΙ), pneumonia, and healthy controls (HC) were stimulated with either the Purified Protein Derivative (PPD) or the Early Secretory Antigen 6kDa-Culture Filtrate Protein 10 (ESAT6-CFP10) complex of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). RNA was extracted and quantified using gene expression microarrays. Differential expression analysis was performed comparing microbiologically confirmed TB to the other diagnostic groups for the stimulated and unstimulated samples. Using variable selection, we identified sparse diagnostic gene signatures; one gene (PID1) was able to distinguish TB from pneumonia after ESAT6-CFP10 stimulation with an AUC of 100% in the test set, while a combination of two genes (STAT1 and IFI44) achieved an AUC of 91.7% (CI95% 75.0%-100%) in the test set after PPD stimulation. The number of significantly differentially expressed (SDE) genes was higher when contrasting TB to pneumonia or HC in stimulated samples, compared to unstimulated ones, leading to a larger pool of candidate diagnostic biomarkers. Our approach provides enlightened aspects of peripheral TB-specific responses and can form the basis for a point of care test meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) Target Product Profile (TPP) for pediatric TB.